In an ancient future where air is currency, survival comes at a brutal cost.

Ten years ago, climate collapse and global war shattered the atmosphere, forcing the Empire and its colonies underground. Now, oxygen is scarce, food scarcer, and breathing has become a privilege reserved for the rich.

In just a few years, the underground oxygen supply became dangerously low, and so began The Suffocation-a violent reckoning where oxygen tubes are torn from the living, and chaos reigns in the depths of the Trenches. In the shadows of this dying world, three children-known only as the Girl, the Boy, and the Child-their names lost to legend, cling to survival.

When a deadly raid destroys their camp, the trio embarks on a desperate journey toward Nova Heofon-a mythical city where it is rumored that the air is clean and freedom might still exist. But in the tunnels of the Empire, danger comes from every shadow: mutated beasts, bloodthirsty bandits, and secrets more suffocating than the lack of air itself.

And when they finally reach Nova Heofon, they're faced with a truth more devastating than the world they left behind.